I worked 2 jobs, 40+ hours a week to put myself through college at age 18.I served Active Duty in the Army at 22.I’ve given birth twice with emergency conditions and was told I shouldn’t conceive again because either mine or the baby’s chances of survival are greatly reduced.I’ve gone back to college while working full time as a mom, married to a sheriff’s deputy who worked nights.I’ve spent the last 10 years with my husband in a war zone for 3/4 of every year, while I was raising our sons. I’ve trained for a marathon and ran one while in a flare of Lupus and Ulcerative Colitis.I’ve spent the last 9 months 2000 miles from the only home we’ve ever known, to embark on a journey that we believe God has led us to – only to find the problems we had before we left, are now 3x worse and not showing any signs of improving.

It’s easy to focus on the problems surrounding us, when we feel there is no escape.It’s so much easier to allow despair and darkness to encompass our thoughts.It’s easy to just give up.

Let’s talk about what takes strength, what takes courage, what takes power.

Hope.

Trust.

Faith.

Love.

We all have the ability to choose how we will react when life comes at us hard – either we stand & fight or we run away.We might not be able to change the outcome, but we can determine how we walk through the storm.

It’s so hard to lift your head when you’re weary from tears of disappointment, but you’ll discover courage when you choose to have hope.

It’s difficult to take one more step when you don’t know if there is a place for your feet to land, but you’ll find the strength with each step when you choose to trust that God is leading you.

It’s agonizing to worry about tomorrow, but when you choose faith – you know Who holds tomorrow and you will find rest in His power.

When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were standing in front of the flames, they said their God is all powerful and able to remove them from the fire – but even if He chose not to, they would still serve God!When they were thrown into the fire, God didn’t remove the fire – but He did walk with them through the fire.God even allowed them to come through the fire without smelling like smoke – if you put your trust in God, He won’t just walk through the fires with you, He’ll walk you out of the fiery furnace into a place where you’re better than when you began.